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Concern about Aponogeton flowers/surface leaves

03-22-2012, 06:58 AM

Hello all,

I am very new to the planted aquariums, only about three weeks in the hobby. I have a 5.5G cube with Aquaray 400 LED, CO2(1d per 2-3 secs) and EI dosing through liquid Seachem line. I have about 1.5-2.5 inch of Seachem Flourite Black gravel as my substrate. There are only 4 fish(2 German Ram and 2 Glass Catfish) and 3 ampullarias. My light cycle is 10 hours and I use Fluval 204 for light water circulation and to filter out occasional stuff.

My aquarium is not densely planted yet. I do have a slight concern about my Aponogeton. When I bought it I was told that it is an Aponogeton Crispus. Each sample (I have two) does look OK, old leaves were a bit broken, I had to trim few and some of the old ones get some dark-ish areas. What concerns me is that it tends to sprout flowers(beautiful though ) and what I think surface leaves (they have much longer stems then the original ones). I read in few sources that it is suggested to cut flower stems before the plant grow 15-20 regular leaves (I have about 12 + 4 long ones). In the other source people mention that Aponogeton grows during particular phases and it is better not to bother it. So, as you can see, it is a bit confusing for me.

I would really appreciate if somebody can help me better understand how to work better with this plant.

Comment

Thanks for the reply! That tank was with goldfish for about 4 month, no plants though. So, I assumed I can grab gravel from it and maybe 50% of original water and accelerate cycling faster. I am monitoring parameters about three times per week and they seems to be within acceptable range.

Regarding Aponogeton, I guess I wanted to hear a side opinion from somebody who has experience with this plant I ended up in leaving already formed flower and cut the new one.

Comment

the double spiked flower suggests that the Aponogeton is of African origin or Madagascar, while A. crispus is from Sri Lanka and will have a single spiked florescence . almost all commercially sold A. crispus are hybrids which are sterile. the flower spike is telling of the plant wanting to reproduce which will normally happen after its peak growing period. this will expend energy from its rhizome and if repeatedly cut, will just send more shoots up to try and complete the cycle. your specimen could be Aponogeton ulvaceus but as i have said, there are many hybrids being sold.
edit: after viewing the attached picture showing its leaf shape and mention of surface leaves, it is probably a hybrid between ulvaceus and natans but impossible to really tell.